The criminal proceedings against a former Missouri State University instructor accused of murdering his colleague were suspended Thursday before the suspect is taken away for mental health treatment.

Edward Gutting, 46, is charged with first-degree murder in the August 2016 killing of 66-year-old Marc Cooper.

Gutting was an instructor at MSU at the time, and Cooper was a retired professor.

As the case has moved through the court system over the last two and a half years, Gutting's defense attorneys have raised questions about his mental faculties and ability to assist in his own defense.

Apparently, a state psychologist shares those concerns.

On Thursday, Judge Thomas Mountjoy signed an order suspending the criminal proceedings and committing Gutting to the director of the Department of Mental Health.

The order says Mountjoy received a report from the Department of Mental Health on Dec. 20 finding Gutting "incompetent to proceed at this time."

Some reports in recent days may have caused people to believe the case is closed, but in fact it's only suspended.

The order says Gutting will be sent to the Department of Mental Health for treatment, and the DMH staff must send another report back to the judge within seven months saying whether Gutting is mentally fit to proceed or whether there is a substantial probability that he will be mentally fit in the foreseeable future.

Other cases in Greene County have followed a similar path, with the defendant ultimately standing trial once he or she is treated and deemed competent.

Gutting is a Princeton University graduate and taught in MSU's Department of Modern and Classical Languages. He and Cooper worked in the history department together from 2011-2014.

A probable cause statement used to charge Gutting says Marc Cooper and his wife, Nancy, were sitting inside their home on East University Street on the evening of Aug. 17, 2016, when Gutting came in through the back door wielding a large knife.

Gutting chased Marc Cooper through the kitchen into the living room, knocked him down and stabbed him to death, according to the statement.

Nancy Cooper was also cut several times as police say she tried to fight with Gutting — whom jail records list at 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds.

The statement says Gutting told Nancy Cooper at one point "it was between him and Cooper," and he didn't want to kill her — but he would if he had to.

A search warrant giving police access to the data on Gutting's computers says Gutting was having money problems and he reportedly felt Cooper was making his work life difficult.

Cooper retired from his position as a history professor at MSU in 2014.

Cooper's position was not immediately filled, the warrant says, and Gutting might have been eyeing the job.

The warrant says Cooper and Gutting's wife, Angela Hornsby-Gutting — who is a history professor at MSU — reportedly had conversations about Gutting and the open job.

But the university went in a different direction.

On the day Cooper was killed, the warrant says, the history department changed the area of instruction for Cooper's old position, leaving Gutting no longer qualified for the job.

Gutting was still being held in the Greene County Jail as of Thursday afternoon.